Come On Down! It's Time to Play "Social Security
Survivor"

By Richard (RJ) Eskow
Campaign for America's Future
August 3, 2010


http://www.ourfuture.org/blog-entry/2010083103/come-down-its-time-play-social-security-survivor

A broad coalition of groups has been formed to defend
Social Security, and the videos announcing it are all
worth watching. Of all the ideas proposed, my personal
favorite comes from AFSCME President Gerald W. McEntee:
A new reality show starring the people who want to cut
Social Security. He suggests having John Boehner,
billionaire benefit-cut advocate Peter G. Peterson, and
Deficit Commission chairs Alan Simpson and Erskine
Bowles live for a year on the average Social Security
benefit of $14,000.

"They won't get a COLA (cost of living increase," says
McEntee, "but they'll still have to deduct $100 a month
for Medicare Part B and still have to pay $200 a month
for Medigap insurance." (The video of his comments:
http://www.ourfuture.org/blog-entry/2010083103/come-down-its-time-play-social-security-survivor

Great idea, Mr. McEntee! Mr. Peterson should be more
than happy to take you up on your offer. He likes
games, having funded one called "Deficitball."(1) Alan
Simpson seems like a playful sort of fellow, too. It
sounds a lot like I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here!,
where the famous and well-to-do are dropped in a jungle
and forced to do icky things like eat bugs and snakes.
But in this case the jungles will be our own cities and
towns and contestants are more likely to eat Purina
than piranha.

But why limit ourselves to only four contestants? Why
not invite those Senators who have pushed for these
sorts of cuts, too, like the senior Senator from
California? Dianne Feinstein, come on down! And let's
not exclude economists like Alice Rivlin, a member of
the Simpson/Bowles Commission who wants to cut benefits
for all the wrong reasons. Let's meet our newest
contestant! Dr. Rivlin thinks it's "absurdly unlikely"
that "widows living on the edge of subsistence" will
have their benefits cut - but then, she doesn't tell us
where she thinks that edge lies.

That's a shame because, as women, our last two
contestants will be asked to survive on less than the
men. The average Social Security benefit for older
women is $11,900, so that's what our female contestants
will receive. Unfair? you say. Outrageous? Sure it is,
but this is a "reality show" and that's the reality.

"When do you think they'll stop calling for benefit
cuts?" asks McAfee. "Probably in the first episode."
He's probably right. Chances are that our contestants
live in pleasant communities, surrounded by the
nearness of family and friends. That'll be the first
thing to change. There may be tearful farewells to
children and grandchildren and lifelong friends, as our
contestants move to urban slums or the distant and
fading outposts of the American dream.

Our next dose of reality: Our male contestants will be
living on $1,166 each month, and the women will have
$991. After those premiums are subtracted they'll have
$866 or $691 for all their monthly needs. (And let's
hope they don't have out-of-pocket medical expenses.)
Rent? Food? Transportation? These amounts will have to
cover everything. Our contestants may not know what
it's like to live like this, but here's their first
lesson: Monthly budgets are too long-term when you're
subsisting at this level. If they're lucky enough to
pay no more than $500 per month for rent and utilities,
our male contestants will now have $85 per week for all
other expenses and the women will have $44.27.

Is our reality show "real" enough for you yet,
contestants? Are we "living on the edge of subsistence"
yet? Eating bugs and snakes for a few weeks is probably
starting to look pretty good by comparison.

What would we call this reality show? Survivor? The
name's been taken. The Real World? Taken. Extreme
Makeover? That one's taken too. American Chopper? Not
quite right, although would be a good name for what the
Deficit Commission is trying to do right now with our
benefits.

Here's the reality: Generations of Americans benefited
from a three-legged system that ensured their financial
security in old age. The first was the pension system,
which has been gutted by employers. The second was
savings and personal assets, which for most households
have been decimated in the last several years. And now
the only remaining leg, Social Security, is under
attack.

"It's not a benefit cut," proponents claim. "We just
want to raise the retirement age." But many people who
live in the reality show we call "life" can't work
until we're seventy. Their jobs are physically
demanding, or there aren't any jobs to be had. Raising
the retirement age means less money for them. (Of
course, it also means less money over a lifetime for
those who retire at seventy, too.) Social Security's
the most conservatively managed, financially stable
public program we have. It has survived multiple
economic downturns. Its greatest threat right now comes
from our would-be contestants.

Some deficit cutters will promise that lower-income
people will not see benefit cuts. But any cuts will
break the covenant under which workers have paid
payroll taxes for a lifetime. And the question remains:
Where will you cut? If you say you won't do it for
people living on $44 per week, what about those whose
total income adds up to $65 a week? $75? $100? What
will satisfy you? And what assurances will we have that
you won't break your promise again someday?

When it comes to tampering with Social Security,
millions of Americans are already living the reality we
just described. The next one to "play" it may be the
teacher who taught you to read, or the nurse that
brought you back to health ... or your mother and
father ... or you. Hey, look! The show's about to
begin. Some of the faces look awfully familiar .. .

Hey, America! It's time to meet our newest contestants!
____________________________________

(1) I thought "Budgetball" sounded like a cross between
The Fountainhead and Death Race 2000, but if Peterson
plays this game I promise to reconsider.

_____________________________________________

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